attacks on quinces. ii 



Insects and Fungus on Quinces. 

 A package of nearly half-grown quinces was received from Union 

 Springs, N. Y., under date of July 27, with the following inquiry of the 

 cause of their appearance and condition ; 



I have just received from C. E. Cook, of South Byron, N. Y. — a 

 large orchardist, specimens of quinces containing an insect, and singu- 

 larly infested with a rusty fungus, which I forward to you for examina- 

 tion. Mr. C. thinks it is all caused by the insect inside the fruit. I am 

 informed that much of the fruit is thus attacked, and it is feared that 

 the difficulty may become a formidable one. What is the insect, and is 

 there any remedy ? 



The Quince curcii/io and the Applc-wonn. — The quinces contained two 

 insects burrowing within them, viz., the larva of the quince curculio, 

 Conotracheliis cratagi Walsh, and the larva of the codling-moth, Car- 

 pocapsa ponwnella (Linn.). The former was the most numerous, as in 

 some of the quinces examined, four examples of it were found. They 

 are easily to be distinguished from the apple-worm, as they are without 

 feet. Walsh has described them as of " an average length when full- 

 grown, of 0.32 of an inch, four and one-half times as long as wide, 

 straight, opaque-whitish with a narrow, dusky dorsal line generally 

 obsolete on the thorax, and a few very short hairs; distinct lateral 

 tubercles on all the joints; head rufous, mandibles black, except at base, 

 and distinctly two-teethed at tip." 



The beetle is figured in the Third Missouri Report, as bearing only a 

 family resemblance to the plum-weevil, Conotracheliis nenuphar (Herbst), 

 being larger, with a longer beak or snout, and a body which is broadest 

 across the base of the wing-covers. 



Food-habits of the Quince curculio. — It was first found feeding upon 

 the fruit of the black thorn, Cratcegus tonientosa, and from this food- 

 plant its specific name was taken. In the Western States it occurs more 

 frequently in this fruit, but in the east it more commonly infests the 

 quince. Instead of the crescent cut characteristic of the plum-weevil, 

 it simply makes a puncture for the reception of its egg. Professor Riley 

 states that the larvae work, for the most part, near the surface, and do 

 not enter the heart of the quince, but in those examined by me, they 

 had penetrated quite to the interior and were feeding upon the seeds. 



Its transformations. — After about a month's feeding, the larv?e desert 

 the fruit and burrow into the ground, where they remain unchanged 

 from the larval state throughout the winter and until early in May, 

 when they transform to pup^e and shortly after that to the perfect 

 insects. 



Its injuries. — This insect has been known to prove very destructive 



